Tag: Science&Health

Chinese Medicinal Demand Fuels Earthworm Rush in Vietnam

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Practioners of traditional Chinese medicine use earthworms — dried to a powder or distilled in liquid — to treat fevers, arthritis, asthma and bronchitis. But overharvesting in China has nearly wiped out the country’s earthworm population. Now, hunters are poaching and purchasing earthworms unearthed in Vietnam, upsetting Vietnamese farmers who depend on them to keep their fields fertile and environment balanced. The earthworm rush has plagued Vietnam’s northern provinces, as poachers, driven by bounty offered by Chinese merchants, trespass private fields or fruit orchards to catch the invertebrate, the online…

Europe Battles Heat, Fires; Sweltering Temperatures Scorch China, US

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rome/beijing —  Italy put 23 cities on red alert as it reckoned with another day of scorching temperatures Wednesday, with no sign of relief from the wave of extreme heat, wildfires and flooding that has wreaked havoc from the United States to China. The heat wave has hit southern Europe during the peak summer tourist season, breaking records – including in Rome – and bringing warnings about an increased risk of deaths. Wildfires burned for a third day west of the Greek capital, Athens, and firefighters raced to keep flames…

US Suspends Funding for China’s Wuhan Lab

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The U.S. has suspended funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese research laboratory at the center of the debate over the origins of the coronavirus that has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide. The lab has not received any U.S. funding since 2020, but for months the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been reviewing its operations, concluding that the institute “is not compliant with federal regulations and is not presently responsible.” The funding cutoff was prompted by the lab’s “failure to provide documentation on [its]…

As China Struggles With Heat, Flooding and Drought, Employers Ordered to Limit Outdoor Work

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BEIJING — Employers across much of China were ordered Monday to limit outdoor work due to scorching temperatures, while the east and southwest were warned to prepare for torrential rain as the country struggled with heat, flooding and drought. Temperatures as high as 40 C (104 F) were reported in cities including Shijiazhuang, southwest of Beijing, the capital. Highs of 35 C (95 F) to 38 C (100 F) were reported in Beijing, Guangzhou in the south, Chongqing in the southwest and Shenyang in the northeast. The weather agency issued…

Experts: China Sees Fukushima Water Release as Tool to Divide Seoul and Tokyo

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WASHINGTON – South Korean officials are seeking to tamp down domestic opposition to the likely release of treated wastewater from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant. The release has the potential to undermine a recent warming of relations between the two countries in the face of an increasingly aggressive China, and some analysts worry that Beijing could use it to try to drive a wedge between them. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi is expected to visit Seoul from Friday to Sunday to explain his approval for Japanese…

China’s Qu Dongyu Reelected Unopposed as Head of UN Food Agency

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The head of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Qu Dongyu, was re-elected Sunday for a second term as head of the U.N. agency. He was the only candidate standing for the role of FAO director-general and received 168 out of 182 votes in a ballot in Rome on Sunday. Qu, a former Chinese government minister who was nominated for the post by Beijing, will serve a new four-year term from August 1. His appointment is seen as a part of a drive by Beijing to get more Chinese figures…

Declassified US Intelligence Answers Few Questions on COVID-19 Origins

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WASHINGTON —  Newly declassified intelligence on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic appears to cast doubt on theories that the outbreak that killed millions around the world began at a research laboratory in Wuhan, China. A report issued late Friday by U.S. intelligence agencies and shared with members of Congress said that despite concerns about biosafety measures at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), and despite its history of work with coronaviruses, there is no intelligence that indicates COVID-19 was present in the lab before the outbreak. “We continue to…

China’s Latest COVID Wave May Hit 65 Million a Week With Mild Symptoms

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Washington —  China, where COVID-19 was first identified in humans more than three years ago, expects its current wave of infection to hit as many as 65 million cases per week by late June, according to official accounts of models presented at a medical conference. While that may be an exhausting number to a post-pandemic world wearied by a still rising toll of 767 million confirmed cases and more than 6.9 million deaths, the predicted onslaught in China comes with less severe symptoms, Wang Guiqiang, director of the Department of…

China’s Shenzhou-16 Mission Takes Off Bound for Space Station

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Jiuquan, China —  China sent three astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, putting a civilian scientist into space for the first time as Beijing pursues plans to send a manned mission to the Moon by the end of the decade. The world’s second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space program in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia. The Shenzhou-16 crew took off atop a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 9:31…

China Says Will Land Astronauts on Moon Before 2030, Expand Space Station

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Beijing —  China’s burgeoning space program plans to place astronauts on the moon before 2030 and expand the country’s orbiting space station, officials said Monday. Monday’s announcement comes against the backdrop of a rivalry with the U.S. for reaching new milestones in outer space, reflecting their competition for influence on global events. That has conjured up memories of the space race between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s, although American spending, supply chains and capabilities are believed to give it a significant edge over…